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My dad refused promotion at CERN several times. He continued to work as a testing engineer, and would not climb the corporate ladder into management roles. That

My dad refused promotion at CERN several times. He continued to work as a testing engineer, and would not climb the corporate ladder into management roles. That reduced his paycheck. When the company had financial trouble though, they fired all the middle managers and kept the engineers. He learned an important lesson - working at a low level with only machines below you is a safe and stable job. I want to do the same. I'm now 28, so I have plenty of flexibility. But I'm worried that as I get older, there will be more pressure to go into management instead of staying in engineering. Companies want fun, young engineers who know all the latest tech - they don't want experience at the technical level.

dade_ 9y ago
The problem with the 2008 crash is that is has possibly created one of the most risk averse generations ever. Companies don’t have desires or feelings, but the owners and managers do. Many like people in their teens and 20’s because they are naive, which is helpful when you need to convince people to work harder for a title or some imaginary threat. Check out the Icarus Deception.
albertgoeswoof 9y ago
> working at a low level with only machines below you is a safe and stable job until your job is replaced by a machine Yes you can get made redunant / fired as a manager, but people management is much less likely to be replaced by machines in the future
gaius 9y ago
When the company had financial trouble though, they fired all the middle managers and kept the engineers The truth is that most layoffs don't work like that, unfortunately. Members of the management class will generally try to protect their own, and they see engineers as mere blue-collar workers, no matter how skilled or qualified those engineers are. Yes, even software engineers.
mrep 9y ago
> they don't want experience at the technical level. Don't know where you are at but I work for one of the big 5 and most people are over 30 and practically all principal+ engineers/executives are over 40.

dade_ 9y ago

The problem with the 2008 crash is that is has possibly created one of the most risk averse generations ever. Companies don’t have desires or feelings, but the owners and managers do. Many like people in their teens and 20’s because they are naive, which is helpful when you need to convince people to work harder for a title or some imaginary threat. Check out the Icarus Deception.

albertgoeswoof 9y ago

> working at a low level with only machines below you is a safe and stable job until your job is replaced by a machine Yes you can get made redunant / fired as a manager, but people management is much less likely to be replaced by machines in the future

gaius 9y ago

When the company had financial trouble though, they fired all the middle managers and kept the engineers The truth is that most layoffs don't work like that, unfortunately. Members of the management class will generally try to protect their own, and they see engineers as mere blue-collar workers, no matter how skilled or qualified those engineers are. Yes, even software engineers.

mrep 9y ago

> they don't want experience at the technical level. Don't know where you are at but I work for one of the big 5 and most people are over 30 and practically all principal+ engineers/executives are over 40.